Leo XI
by Hermes's Least Favorite Child
Summary: Specially for A Stripped Tigger. My continuation of her AWESOME story, Book Cult. Read that first, favorite and follow, and THEN come join the Maddie Awesome Club.


**Leo didn't stick around afterPiper turned beautiful. Sure, it was amazing and all—****_She's got makeup! It's a miracle—_**

"I don't appreciate my blessing to be dismissed so callously," Aphrodite sniffed, shooting Leo a glare.

Leo shrugged, taking out a fistful of screwdrivers out of his tool belt.

**but Leo had problems to deal with. He ducked out of the amphitheater and into the darkness, wondering what he'd gotten himself into.**

"Even if I didn't know, I would have guessed something stupid," Thalia snorted.

The son of Hephaestus laughed. "That's a bit _too _accurate."

**He stood up in front of a bunch of stronger, braver demigods and volunteered—****_volunteered—_****for a mission that would probably get himself killed.**

**He hadn't mentioned seeing Tia Callida, his old babysitter, but as soon as he heard about Jason's vision—the lady in the black dress and shawl—Leo knew it was the same woman. Tia Callida was Hera.**

Zeus raised an eyebrow at his wife. "And from what Hephaestus's son said, you've tried to kill him many times?"

"It was supposed to be an educational experience for the future," she said, exasperated. But everybody could tell Hera was getting a bit squirmy.

**His babysitter was the queen of the gods. Stuff like that could really fry your brain. He trudged toward the woods and tried not to think about his childhood—all the messed up things that led to his mother's death. But he couldn't help it.**

"Leo, you okay, dude?" Connor asked cautiously.

Said Leo was looking up at the ceiling of the ruined throne room, as if thinking about something deeply. Or thinking about nothing at all. His tan skin had visibly paled a few shades.

"I'm fine," he said trying to smile confidently. "Can't burn the dang books, might as well go on, right?"

**The first time Tia Callida tried to kill him, he must've been about two.**

"TWO!?" Hephaestus cried. "That's going _way _too far, Mother!"

Hera looked uncomfortable against all the unflattering stares as said snootily, "I have merely tried to toughen him and train him from a young age, is that so bad?"  
"Yes, it is," Hestia said softly to her younger sister. She didn't know much about motherhood but even she knew killing a two-year old wasn't exactly a good way to get your Honorable Girl Scout badge.

Percy shook his head. He had said to not ignore demigods, but killing them was probably a bit _too much _attention. But the son of Poseidon read on.

**Tia Callida was looking after him while his mother was at the machine shop. She wasn't really his aunt, of course—**

"Yeah, now that I think about it, you're my _abuela _from my dad's side!" Leo said with a false smile of happiness. "I'll be expecting an itchy knitted sweater next fall, Grams."

Hera snorted. "The minute I knit _you _something is the day my older son becomes handsome in my eyes." she glanced at said oldest son. "No offense meant, of course, my dear."

**—****just one of the old women in the community, a generic ****_tia _****who helped watch the kids. She smelled like a honey-baked ham,**

"More like a leathery old cow," Annabeth muttered.

Hera glared and thought that turning her into a downy brown peacock might be a bit _too _forgiving.

**and always wore a widow's dress with a black shawl.**

** "****Let's set you down for a nap," she said. "Let's see if you are my brave little hero, eh?"**

**Leo was sleepy. She nestled him into his blankets in a warm mound of red and yellow—pillows? The bed was like a cubbyhole in the wall, made of blackened bricks, with a metal slot over his head and a square hole far above, where he could see the stars.**

Percy stopped reading and tried to think of such a place, filled with red and yellow pillow. Then his mind seemed to go _ping! _as it connected with another image in his memory. Both he and Hestia gasped at the same time.

"You _didn't_," the goddess of the hearth snarled.

Connor and Travis looked at each other and shrugged. But if the calm fire lady was finally blowing a few lids, something was about to go _down_. Travis took out an iPhone and began taping.

"Twenty drachmas for a view," Connor murmured from the side of his mouth.

"Twenty-five, brosef," Travis muttered back.

Katie rolled her eyes with disgust and snatched the phone back, before turning her attention to the scene.

Travis smirked and took out a second phone.

Leo was busy writing his initials into the wall using the sharp end of the screwdriver trying to ignore the stares that seemed to be burning holes into the base of his neck.

**He remembered resting comfortably, grabbing at sparks like fireflies. He dozed, and dreamed of a boat made of fire, sailing through the cinders.**

Hephaestus gasped as he just realized why Hestia was throwing Hera all those glares. "Did you seriously just stuff my son inside of a…!?"

Leo nodded shamelessly and smiled sardonically. "Yes, she did!"

He growled, the creases in his face becoming dominant as he rubbed his large celestial bronze hammer.

**He imagined himself on board, navigating the sky. Somewhere nearby, Tia Callida sat on her rocking chair—****_creak, creak, creak—_****and sang a lullaby. Even at two, Leo knew the difference between English and Spanish,**

"Wasn't I a bright boy?" Leo said happily as he chucked a screwdriver at a wall. It stuck.

**and he remembered being puzzled because Tia Callida was singing in a language that was neither.**

"Ancient Greek, boy, I tried stimulating your mind and exposing you to the sounds a bit earlier than most," Hera said airily. "You should be thanking me."

"Thank you _so _much, Grams, for nearly cooking me alive at such a young age," Leo said mockingly. "Hey, if you want to get into theaters, let me know, I know a spot open somewhere where they're hiring an evil witch who tries to cook children in an oven!"

Hestia chuckled bitterly and Hera sat back, furious. The other demigods and gods looked at each other, confused about what was going on.

Annabeth was just shocked Percy had made the connection before she did.

**Everything was fine until his mother came home. She screamed and raced over to snatch him up, yelling at Tia Callida, "How could you?" But the old lady had disappeared.**

**Leo remembered looking over his mom's shoulder at the flames curling around his blankets. Only years later had he realized he'd been sleeping in a burning fireplace.**

Pandemonium.

"How could you tarnish my namesake like that!?" Hestia hollered, eyes flaring.

"AWESOME!" Connor and Travis Stoll yelled, pumping their identical fists into the air.

Ares cackled. "So _that's _where I get my violent streak! Boo-yah!"

Katie was the loudest, shocking everyone. "You stuffed a baby inside of an open, blazing _fireplace_? What kind of mother are you?! I'd rather have a mother that forces me to eat nothing but cereal and lose twenty pounds than one that tries to cook me!

"Seriously, aren't you the goddess of family? Or did you just spread the rumor? First, you throw Hephaestus off of a cliff, then you torture _every single wife _Zeus has besides you, you punish _all _their children for just being born, and now you stuff your grandchild inside of a cradle on top of a fire?!"

Connor and Travis stared with wide open eyes as they watched the daughter of Demeter rant like never before. The iPhone slipped out of his hand but they didn't bother to pick it up.

"Jeez, calm down, Katie!" Leo said, scratching the back of his head. "I'm over it. At least I never fell into…"

He glanced at Annabeth and Percy. "Well, that's to come, but there's been worse. A _lot _worse. Just drink some tea or cereal. Wait for the part about her letting me play with—"

"That's enough, boy!" Hera yelled. She turned to Percy. "Skip to the next chapter."

Percy winced. "I don't think I can—"

"Read on," Zeus rumbled. He turned and winked to his wife. "No worries, Hera. We've both done worse."

Hera huffed and sat back.

**The weirdest thing? Tia Callida hadn't been arrested or even banished from their house.**

"Imagine arresting a goddess." Hera snorted. "Or trying to keep the goddess of the Home out of your home."

**She appeared again several times over the next few years. Once when Leo was three, she let him play with knives.**

Pandemonium multiplied by two.

Hermes was laughing like crazy. This was such good blackmail information it was like a book delivered to him from Elysium rather than Revenge.

Hades was chuckling darkly. Imagine, the high and mighty queen of Olympus, getting looked down upon disgustedly by lowly demigods.

Ares was slightly interested. Whenever the word _knives _came along, his interest was piqued. Dionysus yawned and picked up another magazine.

"You let a three-year old play with _knives_!?" Katie yelped. "What is _wrong _with you!?"

"Sit _down_, Katie Gardener, and don't you dare address me in such a tone, I will turn you into a cow!" Hera announced grandly. "And, for your information, Ares has been playing with knives and grenades since he was three _days _old, and Athena came out of her father's head holding a spear, so I have done nothing wrong! Three years. Bah! I've been giving the boy a break."

Katie turned the color of a violet and would have risked turning into a cow if Travis had not pulled her down.

"Katie, you do _not _want to turn into a cow, so I'm sure you'll thank me later when you're sane again," he said with a wince.

**"****You must learn your blades early," she insisted, "if you are to be my hero someday." Leo managed notto kill himself, but he got the feeling Tia Callida wouldn't have cared one way or another.**

**When Leo was four, Tia found a rattlesnake for him in a nearby cow pasture.**

"Of course a _cow _pasture," Annabeth said with a snicker.

Percy smiled.

Nico scowled.

**She gave him a stick and encouraged him to poke the animal.**

Katie banged her head against her chair, moaning. "This should be a How To manual on bad parenting!"

Artemis rolled her eyes. Parenting. Such a bore. It would be so much better to just chase deer or something.

**Where is your bravery, little hero? Show me the Fates were right to choose you." Leo looked down at those amber eyes, hearing the dry ****_shh-shh-shh _****of the snake's rattle. He couldn't bring himself to poke the snake.**

"Finally, the idiot says something intelligent," Thalia snorted.

**It didn't seem fair.**

"I take that back," Thalia muttered, slapping her forehead.

**Apparently the snake felt the same way about biting a little kid. Leo could have sworn it looked at Tia Callida like, ****_Are you nuts, lady?_**

"Answer? Yes," Annabeth grumbled.

"I will turn you into a crossbreed of a mutilated peacock and cow, Annabeth Chase!" Hera growled.

**Then it disappeared into the grass.**

**The last time she babysat him, Leo was five. She brought him a pack of crayons and a pad of paper. They sat together at the picnic table in the back of the apartment complex, under an old pecan tree. While Tia Callida sang her strange songs, Leo drew a picture of the boat he had seen in his dreams, with colorful sails and rows of oars, a curved stern, and an awesome figurehead.**

Leo sighed unhappily as he chucked another screwdriver that landed around two and one-half inches away from the other one. He was really missing that awesome figurehead right now.

"Sounds good," Hephaestus commented.

Leo felt his heart flutter a bit at the praise, but then the idea of Festus made him slump over again, glum.

**When he was almost done, about to sign his name the way he'd learned in kindergarten,**

Everybody giggled at this.

**a wind snatched the picture away. It flew into the sky and disappeared.**

**Leo wanted to cry. He'd spent so much time on that picture—but Tia Callida just clucked with disappointment.**

Leo smiled widely at Hera before chucking three more screwdrivers.

**It isn't time yet, little hero. Someday, you'll have your quest. You'll find your destiny, and your hard journey will finally make sense. But first you must face many sorrows. I regret that, but heroes cannot be shaped any other way. Now, make me a fire, eh? Warm these old bones.**

"Four thousand year bones," Percy said, interrupting himself.

Hera smirked. "And four thousand times more powerful, I may add. And liable-to-make-you-turn-into-a-cow bones too."

Percy shut up and kept reading.

**A few minutes later, Leo's mom came out and shrieked with horror. Tia Callida was gone, but Leo sat in the middle of a smoking fire.**

"Really, the fire _again_?" Hestia snapped. The room was getting a bit too warm from the hearth being too fired up (literally and figuratively).

**The pad of paper was reduced to ashes.**

"The way paper should when introduced to flames when there aren't crazy vengeful magic goddesses messing with the laws of nature," Leo harrumphed.

**Crayons had melted into a bubbling puddle of multicolored goo, and Leo's hands were ablaze, slowly burning through the picnic table.**

Connor tried to be discreet as he scooted away but Leo noticed and his heart fell to his feet with a _flump!_ They all thought he was a freak now, he could see it in their eyes. He threw another screwdriver and it impaled the wall, going in slightly deeper than the others.

**For years afterward, people in the apartment complex would wonder how someone had seared the impressions of a five-year-old's hands an inch deep into solid wood.**

It might have been funny if Leo didn't glare so bitterly. Percy glanced around to see how everyone was faring before he read on.

**Now Leo was sure Tia Callida, his psychotic babysitter, had been Hera all along. That made her, what—his godly grandmother? His family was even more messed up than he realized.**

"True that," Hermes said laughing, trying to ease the gloomy atmosphere. "I'd be your…half-uncle?"

"Uncle," Ares grunted.

"Grandfather," Zeus said lazily.

"Half-aunt," Athena said.

"Great uncle," Hades muttered.

"I couldn't care any less," Dionysus said before burping slightly. He chucked the magazine and snapped his fingers for another one.

"Stop, my brain is going to explode," Leo said, chuckling dryly. He threw one more screwdriver and sat back, finally pleased.

Connor looked and saw that he had thrown each one with such precision, the handles pressed together and formed a smiley face.

**He wondered if his mother had known the truth. Leo remembered after that last visit, his mom took him inside and had a long talk with him, but he only understood half of it.**

"As all men do," Artemis muttered.

"Amen!" Hera exclaimed, sitting back, finally pleased _someone _voiced her thoughts.

**She can't come back again." His mom had a beautiful face with kind eyes, and curly dark hair, but she looked older than she was because of hard work. The lines around her eyes were deeply etched. Her hands were callused. She was the first person from their family to graduate from college. She had a degree in mechanical engineering and could design anything, fix anything, build anything.**

Leo closed his eyes, wincing as though the description hurt. In some ways, it did. He saw him mom every single day. It was only a little bit now until they found out _how _his mom had died in the fire.

Might as well die trying.

"Well, this part may not be that important," Leo said hurriedly. "Let's say some of us go to Dominoes and get some of that pizza I mentioned a bit earlier? I'll bet we can think better if we have more food in our stomachs."

"Leo, we just ate," Nico said, wrinkling his nose at the prospect of more food.

"Then we should read after an hour!" He was getting desperate. "Isn't there a rule that says we can't read for an hour after we eat or something?"

Annabeth smiled sympathetically. "First of all, that's swimming. Second of all, Leo, we know you're not that comfortable with all of us knowing your past and your thoughts, but what's necessary is necessary. If your past wasn't important, it wouldn't've been in the book. Logically speaking."

Leo sighed and banged his head again on the back of his chair. "Fine."

Then he looked out the throne room. If he threw himself off the side, what chances would he have of surviving and not getting on News 7?

**No one would hire her. No company would take her seriously, so she ended up working in a machine shop, trying to make enough money to support the two of them. She always smelled of machine oil, and when she talked with Leo, she switched from Spanish to English constantly—using them like complimentary tools. It took Leo years to realize not everyone spoke that way. She'd even taught him Morse code as a kind of game,**

Leo stared at the ground. Usually, when this subject came up, he found it embarrassing. But he was a bit dizzy with a mix of nostalgia and nausea.

**so they could tap messages to each other when they were in different rooms: ****_I love you. You okay? _****Simple things like that.**

"You okay, Leo?" Travis asked, worried. "You're shaking."

Leo waved him off, eyes concentrated on his shoes.

"**I don't care what Callida says," his mom told him. "I don't care about destiny and the Fates. You're too young for that. You're still my baby."**

What was that annoying ripping sound coming from somewhere?

Leo didn't really care, but he wondered.

**She took his hands, looking for burn marks, but of course there were none. "Leo, listen to me. Fire is a tool, like anything else, but it's more dangerous than most. You don't know your limit. Please, promise me—no more fire until you meet your father. Someday, ****_mijo_****, you ****_will _****meet him. He'll explain everything."**

Percy put the book down and took in a deep breath. "Leo, you okay? I think you're having hysterics."

That's when he realized those ripping noises were coming from him. He smothered out the pain and tried to smile but it came out like a grimace. He relaxed his tense shoulders. He hoped he conveyed relaxation, but Leo had a feeling the others thought he looked like the life had been beaten out of him.

"I'm good, man," Leo said simply with a forced grin. "You can keep reading."

Percy hesitated. "You're right. This is pretty personal. Maybe…maybe we can get through without reading _all _of it."

To be a hero or not to be a hero? Leo wondered. To be a wimp or not to be a wimp? Then he pasted on a pained smile. "Nah, bro, you can read. I'm an open book." He gestured to the hard cover. "Quite literally."

Percy took in another deep breath and kept on reading.

**Leo had heard that since he could remember. Someday, he would meet his dad. His mom wouldn't answer any questions about him. Leo had never met him, never even seen pictures, but she talked like he'd just gone to the store for some milk and he'd be back any minute.**

Hephaestus rubbed his scared faced sadly. _I miss Esperanza so much. How she made me laugh._

**Leo tried to believe her. Someday, everything would make sense.**

This made Leo laugh. Someday. That word was so funny. He doubled over, laughing hysterically. Everybody stared. But he didn't care. He just kept on laughing. Bury yourself in laughs. Let the humor hide the pain.

Katie squeezed his hand reassuringly.

Travis tried to control the scowl playing on his lips.

Percy coughed uncomfortably before turning back to the book.

**For the next couple of years, they were happy. Leo almost forgot about Tia Callida. He still dreamed of the flying boat, but the other strange events seemed like dreams too.**

"Yeah, those were the good days," Leo said with a snort.

Aphrodite bit her lip. She was the goddess of love, but she was also very perceptive of other emotions. This Leo boy was putting on such a strong steel wall around his feelings she couldn't tell what was _really _going on in his head.

**It all came apart when he was eight. By then, he was spending every free hour at the shop with his mom. He knew how to use the machines. He could measure and do math better than most adults.**

"Guilty," Leo called out.

Annabeth glanced at him. Perhaps they might work together in the future.

**He'd learned to think three-dimensionally, solving mechanical problems in his head the way his mom did.**

**One night, they stayed late because his mom was finishing a drill bit design she hoped to patent. If she could sell the prototype, it might change their lives. She'd finally get to have a break.**

Everybody glanced at Leo who began making those miniscule ripping sounds again. He stopped a smiled like _Wonder who that was. Wasn't me._

But Aphrodite gripped her heart. After that last sentence, a wave of sadness had unleashed from a small crack in his shield of humor and nearly swept her off her feet. How he managed to hide the pain was amazing.

"Too bad she never got a break," Leo said with a sigh.

Katie felt his hand tense in hers.

**As she worked, Leo passed her supplies and told her corny jokes,**

"Yup, it's you," Thalia said with a roll of her eyes, trying to lighten the mood

**trying to keep her spirits up. He loved it when he could make her laugh. She'd smile and say, "Your father would be so proud of you, ****_mijo_****. You'll meet him soon, I'm sure."**

For the first time ever, from the moment he had appeared in the room, Leo was really angry. He released anger worse than Nico as he glared at his father.

"Soon." Leo laughed, more like barked. "Yeah. Seven years."

Hephaestus didn't look up from his machine. Zeus frowned. Lucky Leo wasn't a son of Zeus or he would have brewed a big enough storm to flood several dams.

**Mom's workspace was at the very back of the shop. It was kind of creepy at night, because they were the only ones there. Every sound echoed through the empty warehouse.**

"Creepy," Connor muttered to Travis.

**but Leo didn't mind as long as he was with his mom. If he did wander the shop, they would keep in touch with Morse code taps. Whenever they were ready to leave, they had to walk through the entire shop, through the break room, and out to the parking lot, locking the doors behind him.**

**That night after finishing up, they'd just gotten to the break room when his mom realized she didn't have her keys.**

The shaking was back. Nobody asked, but they knew something big was going to happen.

**"****That's funny." She frowned. "I know I had them. Wait here, ****_mijo_****. I'll only be a minute."**

**She gave him one more smile—the last one he'd ever get**

Aphrodite stopped gouging Leo for feelings. She was about to get a heart attack from all the sadness, stress, and anxiety.

Leo was _really _considering jumping off of the Empire State Building's 600th floor.

**—****and she went back into the warehouse.**

**She'd only been gone a few heartbeats when the interior door slammed shut. Then the exterior door locked itself.**

** "****Mom?" Leo's heart pounded. Something heavy crashed inside the warehouse. He ran to the door, but no matter how hard he pulled or kicked, it wouldn't open. "Mom?" Frantically, he tapped a message on the wall: ****_You okay_****?**

** "****She can't hear you," a voice said.**

"Would leaving right now be rude?" Travis whispered to his brother. "I wanna get some popcorn."

**Leo turned and found himself facing a strange woman. At first he thought it was Tia Callida. She was wrapped in black robes, with a veil covering her face.**

** "****Tia?" he said.**

**The woman chuckled, a slow gentle sound, as though she were half asleep.**

Percy put the book down. "What was that you guys just did?"

He was addressing the gods.

"Us?" Poseidon said innocently, scratching his beard. "I have no idea what you're speaking about, son."

"Yes, you did. You all exchanged some really freaked out faces." Percy couldn't hold back a smirk. "And no offense, Dad, but I'd leave the lying to Hermes."

Hermes couldn't hold back a chuckle. He was right. "We have no idea what you're talking about, Percy, honest as we are loyal."

He looked at the group of demigods, all from different lineage. Then he turned to the gods and frowned. "Really? I know you promised not to lie, but _that_'_s _the best you can come up?"

"You're embarrassing us, pops!" Travis hollered.

Hermes rolled his eyes. "Fine. We merely thought we recognized someone from the description. But it's not that important right now. Keep on reading."

Percy thought about fighting a bit more. If they all suddenly looked like they had a case of food poisoning, it was obviously very important. But he was interested in what was going to happen next.

From the look on Leo's face, it obviously wasn't anything good.

**"****I am not your guardian. Merely a family resemblance."**

** "****What—what do you want? Where's my mom?"**

** "****Ah…loyal to your mother. How nice. But you see, I have children too…and I understand you will fight them some day. When they try to wake me, you will prevent them. I cannot allow that."**

** "****I don't know you. I don't want to fight anybody."**

**She muttered like a sleepwalker in a trance, "A wise choice."**

**With a chill, Leo realized the woman was, in fact, asleep. Behind the veil, her eyes were closed.**

"Cool," Connor breathed.

Katie leaned over to whack him on the head for interrupting the intense moment.

**But even stranger: her clothes were not made of cloth. They were made of ****_earth_****—****dry black dirt, churning and shifting around her. Her pale, sleeping face was barely visible behind a curtain of dust, and he had the horrible sense that she had just risen from the grave.**

"Oh my chariot," Apollo said with a wince. "This is bad. Real, real bad."

"Be quiet!" Artemis snapped.

For once, the younger twin listened.

**If the woman was asleep, Leo wanted her to stay that way. He knew that fully awake, she would be even more terrible.**

Athena stared at the son of Hephaestus who had closed his eyes. "Leo Valdez! How do you _do _that?"

He opened his eyes. "Do what?"

"You keep on saying these things that are _completely _correct, even though you have no idea what's going on, boy," Hephaestus growled.

Leo shrugged eyes empty. "I'm a lucky guesser."

**"****I cannot destroy you yet," the woman murmured. "The Fates will not allow it. But they do not protect your mother, and they cannot stop me from breaking your spirit. Remember this night, little hero, when they ask you to oppose me."**

** "****Leave my mother alone!" Fear rose in his throat as the woman shuffled forward.**

Was it just Percy, or was the entire room getting cold? He turned to look at Hestia, who was drying tears from her flaming eyes. Weird.

Aphrodite was sobbing into a perfect lacy handkerchief, still looking like a supermodel ready for the runway while crying.

Artemis hesitated before dipping her head to acknowledge the bravery and dedication.

**She moved more like an avalanche than a person, a dark wall of earth shifting towards him.**

** "****How will you stop me?" she whispered.**

**She walked straight through a table, the particles of her body reassembling on the other side**

**She loomed over Leo, and he knew she would pass right through him, too. He was the only thing between her and his mother.**

Hephaestus swiped a hand over his eye. He wasn't crying, of course. A god couldn't cry very easily. He just had to dislodge a cinder from his eye.

Annabeth squeezed Percy's other hand as hard as she could. Leo had his head in his hands, panting heavily. Katie made reassuring noises, patting his back like a mother would.

Travis couldn't even work himself up enough to be jealous. The poor guy looked like he just took another visit to the Underworld again.

**His hand caught on fire.**

"Gods, Leo, you are _so _stupid!" Thalia groaned as she massaged her temples. "Didn't your mom tell you not to—?"

Leo threw another screwdriver. It impaled itself into the wall two inches away from her face. Thalia froze.

Leo smiled cruelly. "You were saying?"

"Stand down, Lieutenant," Artemis said quietly.

Thalia bowed her head.

Percy read on.

**A sleepy smile spread across the woman's face, as if she'd already won. Leo screamed with desperation. His vision turned red. Flames washed over the earthen woman, the walls, the locked doors. And Leo lost conciousness.**

Aphrodite let out a wail into the folds of her handkerchief and hiccuped. The Aphrodite girls, save for Drew, were all sobbing madly.

Hephaestus rubbed his eyes again. Stupid cinder.

Hestia's flame went down to a flicker.

Dionysus put his magazine down glumly and picked another one up. He snapped his fingers for some grapes.

Ares spat on his sword's doubleblade and yaw

**The paramedic tried to be kind. She told him the warehouse had burned down. His mother hadn't made it out. The paramedic said she was sorry, but Leo felt hollow. He'd lost control, just like his mother had warned. Her death was his fault.**

Leo was shaking again. He had drawn his kneees to his face and was mumbling, "All my fault, all my fault…"

"Relax, Leo," Annabeth said softly from behind. "It's all just a bad memory. It's a stupid book."

He took in a deep breath. Aphrodite wasn't sure whether she should have been happy or not as the strong steel wall reinforced itself and grew ten times stronger. The sadness was contained.

Leo laughed. The sound bounced through the silent walls. "Man, I must be a wimp. Come on, guys, it's my first time on Olympus and we're having a funeral!"

Hestia's flame flickered brighter. Hephaestus closed his eyes so the cinder couldn't get any deeper. Percy took in a deep breath and continued.

**Soon the police came to get him, and they weren't as nice. The fire had started in the break room, they said, right where Leo had been standing. He'd survived by some miracle, but what kind of child locked the doors of his mother's workplace, knowing she was inside, and started a fire?**

"Gods, criminal and arsonist at age eight." Leo shook his head. "Hope I don't get turned down from colleges because of that later."

**Later, his neighbors at the apartment complex told the police what a strange boy he was. They talked about the burned handprints on the picnic table. They'd always known something was wrong with Esperanza Valdez's son.**

Leo frowned. That hurt a lot.

**His relatives wouldn't take him in. His Aunt Rosa called him a ****_diablo_**

****Annabeth winced. That meant "devil" in Spanish.

**and shouted at the social workers to take him away. So Leo went to his first foster home.**

They expected him to break down to be called something like that from his own aunt, but Leo just sneered. "I never really liked Aunt Rosa anyhow. Imagine staying in her house _every day_. I don't think I would have been able to live with all those stuffed cats!"

**A few days later, he ran away. Some foster homes lasted longer than others. He would joke around, make a few friends, pretend that nothing bothered him, but he always ended up running sooner or later. It was the only thing that made the pain bettet—feeling like he was moving, getting farther and farther away from the ashes of that machine shop.**

"You can never put enough distance," Annabeth whispered, nearly strangling herself by twisting her necklace too hard.

**He'd promise himself he'd never play with fire again. He hadn't thought about Tia Callida, or the sleeping woman wrapped in earthen robes, for a long time.**

Leo coughed and took some paper from his tool belt. He began to fold origami bunnies.

**He was almost to the woods when he imagined Tia Callida's voice: ****_It wasn't your fault, little hero. Our enemy awakes. It's time to stop running away._**

******"****Hera," Leo muttered, "you're not even here, are you? You're in a cage somewhere." **

The queen of the heavens stuck her nose into the air and sniffed. "The incolence."

**There was no answer.**

"Well, obviously," Thalia grumbled.

**But now, at least, Leo understood something. Hera had been watching him for his entire life. Somehow, she'd known that one day she would need him. Maybe those Fates she mentioned could tell the future. Leo wasn't sure. But he knew he was ****_meant _****to go on this quest. Jason's prophecy told warned to beware the earth,**

Here the gods exchanged nervous glances again.

**and Leo knew it had something to do with that sleeping woman in the shop, wrapped in robes of shifting dirt.**

**_You'll find your destiny, _****Tia Callida had promised, ****_and your hard journey will finally make sense._**

****Leo made two more bunnies and put some tape on their bottoms before tossing them to Percy who silently put them on Clovis's sleeping face.

**Leo might find out what that flying boat in his dreams meant.**

"Done."

**He might meet his father,**

"Also done."

**or even get to avenge his mother's death.**

"…Working on it."

**But first things first. He'd promised Jason a flying ride.**

**Not the boat from his dreams—not yet. There wasn't time to build something that complicated. He needed a quicker solution. He needed a dragon.**

Nyssa gave a sigh of exasperation. "You have got to be kidding me. Didn't you hear that Jake was in a _body cast_, Leo? Do you want to be lonely and rot away on that fancy bed?"

Jake frowned. "No offense, Jake."

Leo laughed and sat back, legs crossed lazily. "I don't think. It gets in the way of being nuts."

"Word!" Connor and Travis declared.

**He hesitated at the edge of the woods, peering into absolute hooted, and something far away hissed like a chorus of snakes.**

**Leo remembered what Will Solace had told him:**

"Really, you're still refusing to call me by my first name?" Will groaned.

**No one should go into the woods alone, definitely not unarmed. Leo had nothing—no sword, no flashlight, no help.**

"No brain, either," Thalia harrumphed.

**He glanced back at the lights of the cabins. He could turn around now and tell everyone he'd been joking. ****_Psych! _****Nyssa could go on the quest instead. He could stay at camp and learn to be part of the Hephaestus cabin,**

"Boo!" Connor and Travis both howled.

"Wimp!" Ares scoffed.

Hermes shook his head. "That, my boy, is _not _the spirit."

**but he wondered how long it would be before he looked like his bunkmates—sad, dejected, convinced of his own bad luck.**

Hephaestus's frown deepened. He really hoped this curse thing would go made his kids sound like Hades's bunch.

**_They cannot stop me from breaking your spirit, _****the sleeping woman had said. ****_remember this night, little hero, when they ask you to oppose me._**

******"****Believe me, lady," Leo muttered. "I remember. And whoever you are, I'm gonna face-plant you hard, Leo-style."**

**He took a deep breath and plunged into the forest.**

Percy set the book down. "Who wants to read next?"

Annabeth took the book. "I'll try. **Leo XII.**"

Leo pretended to swoon. "I don't think I-I'm emotionally prepared for this!"

Thalia scowled. She wished they could be done with this idiot so they could hear from Jason's point of view again.


End file.
